Experience Tips Real Life Solutions

Swank Diet? MS Recovery Diet? Best Bets Diet? Paleo Diet?

Hi Friends!

Sorry I haven’t written in a couple of days but I am still recovering from a relapse. Last night was interesting. I couldn’t move my knees! I ended up being a bed bug for the day! Today is better…so far! I tend to get worse as the day goes on. My body fatigues more. Pace myself…I have to learn what that means!

Have you used any of the MS diets out there? When I was first diagnosed I changed many bad habits; I kicked my Diet Coke addiction, stopped eating processed foods and never ate anything that came in a package. I only ate fresh fruits and vegetables and lean meats.

I felt great. I even trained and competed in a Triathlon for the first time ever. After my training days were over, I got lazy. I started with the processed foods again and have never been the same since.

This weekend I did a lot of diet research on MS diets and found a common thread. All recommended the following:

No gluten

No processed foods

Low saturated fat diet

No dairy

Hmmm….was it a coincidence that I went into remission when I changed my eating habits? I don’t know but I am going to test it. Starting today, none of the bad stuff – just fresh, whole foods and no gluten!

Let me know your results if you have ever practiced one of these diets. Did your symptoms subside? Were they minimized?

Related

I am trying the best I can to be a good advocate, if not caregiver, for my wife, who has R/R MS. I am in a bind, trying to figure out what is best and realistic for her, as we struggle with very little income. Her supplements, her diet and exercise have all been compromised and her condition has worsened. How has your regimen worked? What guidelines did you use? Fundamental principles or points?

Hi David,
Thank you for your message. It is quite a struggle to watch someone you love suffer and decline while you try to keep it all together.

While you are trying to find realistic solutions for you and your wife, please take some friendly advice:
– be careful not to fall for “snake oil” type fixes
– many “supplements” claim to falsely cure MS…
– my favorite website for dietary supplements is http://www.VitaCost.com, they are very price competitive and offer their customers lots of coupon incentives

I feel my best when I:
– follow a natural diet, meaning; consuming nothing that comes in a package, box, can, wrapper, etc.
– drink lots of water
– take b-12 sub-lingual for energy

It can be expensive to eat healthier but there are ways to get fresh foods instead of relying on the pre-packaged, convenience foods:
– take advantage of your local farm stands
– many churches have food co-ops who shop at fresh markets
– when shopping in the grocery store, shop only in the outside aisles where the fresh foods are
– eat only lean cuts of meat and very small portions
– learn to love beans and legumes

I just recently re-started Copaxone. I was prescribed Copaxone when I was first diagnosed and I was stable for a couple of years while I was on it. I began relapsing quite frequently and that’s when I tried things like BetaSeron and Rebif. Both had terrible side effects.

Many of the MS Therapy drug companies offer patient assistance to cover the cost of the drugs and nursing staff to talk to and offer suggestions about how to cope. Shared Solutions is the support system for Copaxone. http://www.sharedsolutions.com/

I hope that helped. If you have more questions, please send them my way and I will try to answer them the best I can. I am not a medical professional, just someone trying to make the best of a hard situation. :o)

About My Life With MS

Hi!

Welcome to my MS world. I was happily clicking along in life when I had an acute onset of MS in 2005. I was stunned, shocked and left in bed for 6 weeks unable to walk or see. I went into remission and changed my life.

At first I felt sorry for myself:

I was a single mom of a 4 year old

tried to maintain a small house

hold a job

get healthy

manage all the responsibilities I had

I was determined to be positive about my new situation. I refused to let MS take over my life so I embarked on something totally out of character for me…I trained for a triathlon. It was an amazing experience.

Life started to turn around until July 2007 where I had relapse, after relapse, after relapse with the probable prognosis of Secondary Progressive MS. Not exactly what I wanted to hear.

With that news, I needed to change my life again. I quit my job because my body couldn’t handle the physical stress and looked for a job I could do from home. Now I am on a new journey. I work from home as a freelancer and I hope to try and help others find meaning and purpose in their lives when MS tries to take over.